Discovery ofApis floreaColonies in Northeastern Egypt

Abstract

In this note, attention is focused on Apis species in particular the dwarf honeybees, while in previous studies we studied non-Apis bees (Shebl et al. 2013, 2014, 2015). Apis florea is widely distributed on the Asian continent, extending 7000 km from the east in Vietnam and China across Asia westwards to south of Oman (Hepburn et al. 2005). The species was accidentally introduced into Saudi Arabia and Sudan (Maa 1953; Hepburn et al. 2005). It is known only from Sudan in Africa and recently in Ethiopia (Bezabih et al. 2014) and has not been recorded previously in northern Africa. Apis florea was expected to invade Africa when it was first recorded on the eastern border of the Red Sea, around Aqaba, Jordan (Haddad et al. 2008). The Jordanian populations appear to have two origins with one linked to populations from Pakistan, Sudan, Oman then Saudi Arabia and Iran. The second one is linked to southern Indian and Sri Lankan populations (Haddad et al. 2009). It was predicted that the Jordanian and Sudanese populations would probably move into the Sinai Peninsula (Hepburn et al. 2011).